Gatorade really isn't cutting it with its Super Bowl efforts this year. In a spot for its G2 sport drink, Derek Jeter walks through the streets of New York as a baseball landscape digitally follows him. Like we said here, nice effects but that's about it. We said it wasn't lame but close.

After viewing this Arnell-created commercial for the company's flagship line of drinks, we can, without doubt, say this one is truly lame. For almost the entire length of the commercial, we see a dog drinking from its water bowl. We watch. We wait. We watch. We wait. There simply has to be some amazing punchline this thing's working up to. Will the dog break out in some sort of digitally-enabled, cartoonish, Gatorade-fueled dance? Will we see a loving scene between dog and man with a closing shot of man and dog expressing their love for one another while the man drinks from a bottle of Gatorade and the tagline, "Gatorade. Life is Good" is supered?

When we heard Sunsilk tapped design firm Desgrippes Gobe, Paris and BrandThinkTank to compose its Super Bowl spot -- which features images of Madonna, Shakira and Marilyn Monroe -- we pictured something deliciously Warholian and mod. We thought it would make sensuous sport of our eyes and ears.

We watched it twice to be sure of its suckage. We are now certain. The pictures and music should flow, but the ad feels like it missed a much-needed appointment with the cutting room. It's all too much like a YouTube mashup.

So you first start watching this Jawbone ad (of course you don't know it's a Jawbone as yet) in which the camera makes visual love to an OMFG hot lady in a black bikini sunning on a recliner next to a pool and all is well with the world. You're all set to drink in the woman's delicious thighs, her ripped stomach, her perfect waist-to-hip ration, her perfect skin, her magnificent breasts, her stunning Euro-style beauty...until you get cock blocked by a bunch or loud retards (OK, that's not PC so we'll say buffoons) who do what guys do when they get together: make a lot of noise and act stupid (OK, that's not PC so we'll say, uh, exuberant)

We're inclined to say no. The idea of two boys, innocent of politics and bonded by communication, is pretty attractive. We find both spots pretty moving in a Prince of Egypt sort of way. (Remember? "MOOOSEEEEES!")

Bartle Bogle Hegarty put together this spot, "Dalmatian," for Miller Lite. Feast your eyes on some feel-good dalmatians chasing a branded truck which, just for the heck of it, takes a friendly jab at Bud Light.

There's something apocalyptic about this Monster spot by BBDO, NY. Called "Daybreak," the premise is you shouldn't have to fight Monday. To illustrate that, a bunch of people knock down their satellite dishes, grab trashcan covers and run out to do battle against the sun -- only to walk off in defeat when the sun rises anyway.

The ad made us sad. Can't a comparison be made against this futile race to beat sunrise, and the lame way we trudged (hung OVER) into the office and passive-aggressively trawled eBay for the first three hours of the morning?

The ad debuted in early January (another debuted during Lost last night), and is part of "Your Calling is Calling." Maybe we find the spots such a consistent bummer because that slogan sounds so promising. Shouldn't Sally Housewife be cupping her ear to the kitchen window and listening for the sunny Higher Calling (inevitably, her dormant talent as a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist)?

Ah yes, recall the cheesiness of last year's Super Bowl ad for Salesgenie in which a wannabe suave, debonair dude hops out of his mid-life crisis sports car and utter, "I don't work hard. I work smart." Eesh. At least this year we don't have a repeat of that debacle. But we will have cartoons. Two of them. And cheesiness works just fine in commercials.

In the first ad, a married panda bear couple is stress out because they have now customers and fear they will go out of business. Thankfully, Panda Psychic comes to the rescue and recommends Salesgenie and its 100 free leads offered new users. Love that bamboo sports car at the end.

Gawker has put together a nice list of commercials dubbed "The 25 Most Memorable Super Bowl Ads." From Budweiser's Zebra Ref to Pepsi's P. Diddy truck to Anheuser Busch's weepy (in a good way) military tribute to Reebok's Terry Tate to Robert Goulet messing with people's stuff for Emerald Nuts to FedEx's Stick and Castaway to Career Builder's Monkeys to Christopher Reeves' appearance for Nuveen to Britney Spears in her prime (such as it was) for Pepsi to ETrade's Wazoo to Monster's When I Grow Up to Budweiser's Frogs to Kevin Federline's Nationwide fantasy to classic Cindy Crawford for Pepsi to GM's suicidal robot to, of course, Apple's 1984, it's a stellar collection.

Now if only we could have one year where every spot in the game were as good as these. Well, at least we can imagine. Check out the entire collection. Unfortunately, after viewing, Sunday may be a big let down.

Courtesy of MediaPost's Out to Launch, we have one of the two ads Gatorade will run for its G2 low calorie drink. One ad will feature Dwyane Wade and one will feature Derek Jeter. The Derek Jeter ad has Jeter walking through the streets of New York while elements of a baseball field follow him and fill in the landscape behind him. There's some nice special effects in this ad but aside from that, there is absolutely nothing special about this ad. It's run-of-the-mill celebu-sport figure 101. Not quite lame but close.

Garmin's 2008 Super Bowl commercial leaves behind last year's Maposaurus for this year's Napoleon who, after racing through the streets of France (anachronistically in a car?), arrives to command his troops but has to hide that nifty yet-to-be invented Garmin navigational device, hence the explanation for his famed placement of his hand inside his coat. Witty enough. Catchy tunes. Just not sure we get that whole time shift/travel thing. Unless, of course, Garmin has now embedded time machines in their products.

Tierney Minneapolis created. Some behind the scenes footage is available here.